How Long We Should Remember Our Sins

Your question, as was said above, was not about the nature of penitence but about its end and the signs of amends, and to that, I think, a fair and fitting answer has been given. But what you have said about remembering sins is quite useful and necessary for people who are still doing penance, so that, constantly beating their breasts, they may say: “For I acknowledge my wickedness, and my sin is always before me”; and this too: “And I will think about my sin.” So while we do penance and are still grieved by the memory of our faulty deeds, the shower of tears that comes from confessing our faults is sure to put out the fire of our conscience. [a]

But suppose a man is still in this state of humility of heart and contrition of spirit, still laboring and weeping, and the memory of these things fades away, and the thorns of conscience are drawn out of his inmost heart by God’s grace. Then it is clear that he has reached the end of amends and the reward of pardon, and that he is cleansed from the stain of the sins he committed. We can reach this state of forgetfulness only when our former sins and likings are blotted out, and by perfect and complete purity of heart. And this will certainly not be reached by anyone who out of laziness or carelessness has failed to purge out his faults. It will be reached only by one who, by continual sorrowful groaning and sighing, has removed every spot of his former stains, and by the goodness of his heart and by his labor has declared to the Lord: “I have acknowledged my sin, and my unrighteousness I have not hidden”; and, “My tears have been my food day and night.” Then in the end he may be granted to hear these words: “Let your voice cease from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your labor, says the Lord.” And these words also may be spoken of him by the voice of the Lord: “I have blotted out your wickedness like a cloud, and your sins like a mist”; and again, “I, I am he who blots out your wickedness for my own sake, and your offenses I will remember no more.” And so, when he is freed from “the cords of his sins,” by which “everyone is bound,” he will sing to the Lord with all thanksgiving: “You have broken my chains; I will offer to you the sacrifice of praise.”